AI Acceleration Will Redefine the Next Five Years

Futurist Steve Brown opened his Tuesday keynote at IFT FIRST^®: Annual Event and Expo with a bold prediction: “We may see more technologically driven change in the next five years than in the last 50.” The former executive at Google DeepMind and Intel and author of The Innovation Ultimatum: How Six Strategic Technologies Will Reshape Every Business in the 2020s, has been an AI technology expert and advisor for 25 years, partnering with global brands and industries from uranium mining to finance and retail. “As a futurist it used to be 10 to 15 years, and that is now impossible,” he said. “It’s tricky to get out more than about three years based on the speed of technology and how much change it will bring.”

Brown began by looking for inspiration from the past to predict what might happen in the future. “During the first few phases of the industrial revolution we built machines that made human physical strength and stamina less relevant, now we’re building electrical minds, and technology that will partner with us,” he explained as we enter what he calls a new industrial age. “For 25 years there have been waves of change we’ve had to surf and AI is no different. Technology will partner with us to improve our capabilities and offload the things we just don’t want to do.”

Passive and Generative AI

He started by breaking down the types of traditional or classic AI including passive which has been around for about 15 years and focuses on making predictions based on patterns. It includes everything from email spam filters to Netflix recommendations, and data sorting. Generative AI takes things a step further via familiar programs like ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini. “They are all amazing, but generative AI is going to do a lot more than that,” explained Brown, citing the company Tastry as an example, which uses AI to predict preferred consumer flavors and create consistency in winemaking. “What if AI could predict whether a formulation was going to be something consumers would love or not?” said Brown. Other uses include visual inspection of warehouses and factories in real time to spot and report safety issues, decoding protein structures, and accelerating productivity by quickly connecting data. “Companies spend 17% of their time just looking for information they need to do their jobs when you can use AI to connect corporate data and make it easier to connect with customers or internally,” he said. He noted, however, that “these things still need the collaboration of AI and humans working together, neither the AI or human can come up with it on its own.”

The Year of the Agent

When it comes to the future of AI, Brown described the era of agentic AI and the emergence of various agents (from offload agents to digital workers) which can handle and navigate more complex tasks, act autonomously, and learn from their mistakes, getting better over time. “They are there to hand off a task you don’t want to do,” explained Brown. “This type of AI will take the ‘suck’ out of our jobs, the things that are repetitive or boring.” They could book a flight, schedule a meeting, or help with vetting and hiring employees. According to Brown, “agents will transform the workplace in 2026 and 2027.”

Spatial and Physical AI

Brown also talked about spatial AI, which enables a machine to understand a physical space, aiding in everything from finding your lost keys in a room, to identifying the neighborhood you’re in. “It will lead to a new class of devices like smart glasses that can understand your context and provide you with value,” he said. When you combine agentic and spatial AI you get physical AI, which Brown described as “not your grandfather’s robots.” He showed a video montage of nimble robots doing everything from back flips to laundry and swirling wine in a carafe. “You have to break down every task, which is best done by a human, robot, or agent?” posited Brown. “Each has different strengths and weaknesses but either way the most important thing to keep in mind is that you have to double down on humanity.”

What’s Next?

As we prepare to get hit with what Brown describes as an “express train of change,” it’s important to be prepared to surf the AI waves. Staying curious, making time to learn, and experimenting with tools as they emerge, are the best ways to learn how to implement AI into your business and life. “But even with all this technological change,” said Brown. “I am convinced the future is still human.”ft